As you may recall, last week I went swimmingly with my goals and exceeded them by 1000 words. As a reminder, my weekly target is 4200 words and this week I managed to write a miserable 891 words *tear*

Well, what can I say? Life got in the way. It's a very cold autumn in Sydney so, of course, I caught a cold and being at work the whole week didn't help at all.

I have a two week holiday now and I am well on my way to recovery so my goal for this week is to write my usual 4200 + 3100 so that I can make up for last week. All together my goal for this week is: 7300 words. Wish me luck everyone!

You can visit all the other wonderful ROW80 participants here. Show them some love!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Blog About Your Dog Monday is a great idea which I discovered on Mflick1's blog who, in turn, found it on Lindsay Writes. Today I will be introducing you to the baby of the bunch, and my little boy, who was our second dog. Following in The Lion King tradition, I named him Kovu to match with Kiara's name.

Kovu is a big baby and looks similar to a wolf so people avoid him on the streets not knowing that he has a phobia of mops, brooms and basically anything that moves.. I have spoilt him rotten and he knows it and will come and complain to me if his daddy is eating something and won't give him any.

Kovu is a very vocal dog. He howls when he wants something. He howls when I talk. He howls when he sees me. He just loves talking. I will tell him, "I love you," and he will say, "You too!" (I will post a video up sometime - he is too cute for words) He is very intelligent and well-trained and I take him everywhere with me.

(And, yes, that is Kovu with a cat. My first cat actually: Angel who recently passed away. They were as thick as thieves and I have many cute photos of them together. Also, note the fact that Kovu is more interested in having his picture taken than in Angel.)

Feel free to share your doggy stories, guys! Next week I will tell you about the puppies - yes, there are MORE!

Clay Jensen returns home to find a strange package wth his name on it. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and first love - who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

Hannah's voice explains there are thirteen reasons why she killed herself. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why.

All through the night, Clay keeps listening - and what he discovers changes his life...Forever.

What can I say that already hasn't been said by book reviewers throughout the blogosphere? Thirteen Reasons Why is a phenomenal piece of literature and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to read it.

It felt almost private; like I didn't deserve the privilege to listen to Hannah Baker's last words. I felt very much like Clay and did not put the book down until I finished reading it. I just had to know, I had to find out the reasons that Hannah committed suicide. I couldn't rest until I was sure that her reasons were justified and then I was sad because I felt like they weren't. I felt like someone could have saved Hannah and helped her and that she came to the conclusion of suicide too quickly - I know she said that she'd been thinking about it for a while but I wish her parents had been more involved in her life.

At times I didn't understand Hannah's reasons for doing things - driving Courtney to the party, staying with Marcus after he was late - but I did feel for her every single time something went wrong. I also feel that Hannah's story is written in a "worst case scenario" way. These are all the worst things that can happen to you. These are all the different ways that you life can fall apart at once. I must admit, when she got into that hot tub with Bryce, my life did fall apart. All the strength I had been carrying for Hannah, hoping that she would snap out it, failed when she gave in to Bryce. That was a very powerful scene.

I knew what to expect when I picked up this book but I was still hoping that maybe Hannah hadn't killed herself and that maybe this was just a big joke she was playing on everyone to get revenge. I hoped, but I knew it wasn't true. Hannah was well and truly gone. I hoped because I fell in love with Hannah and wanted to save her.

Jay Asher tells us an emotional story in a unique way. The writing style is fresh and interesting and everything connects so well at the end. You become invested in Hannah's story and the message behind it. I recommend this book to everyone.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Hello, fellow Round of Words participants and aspiring writers! This is my first check-in for ROW80 as I have decided to check-in once a week on Sundays since I don't think I will have much to share on the Wednesday check-ins.

My ROW80 challenge didn't start off very well. My daily goal was to write at least 600 words and for the first 3 days I wrote a grand total of ZERO words. However, I pulled up my socks and began writing furiously and now I have surpassed my weekly goal of 4200 words by a 1000!

I am back on track now and laugh in the face of writing 48000 words! Fear my wrath WIP *WIP shakes in boots*

Fellow ROW80 participants, stop by and say hi and good luck to everyone with their goals.

(P.S. For some of the lovely people who are following me, please comment and link me to your profiles as I would love to follow you back.)

Monday, April 4, 2011

I love Mondays now (well, it's actually a Tuesday now but eh) because every Monday I get to tell you about one of my gorgeous dogs. I "borrowed" the idea from Mflick1 who has her own doggy stories to share so be sure to check out her blog.

Today I'll introduce Lyra who is the second oldest (not by much) but was the third dog we got. She is a stunning red/orange/chocolate coloured Siberian Husky who originally had green eyes which are now a beautiful orange-brown colour.

Siberian Huskies are best known for their wolf howls but Lyra is best known for her banshee cry. No, honestly, when she howls she sounds like a banshee. Her howl is also similar to the war cry that Xena makes during battle. Coincidentally Lyra's mum's name is Xena, but I guess it's not much of a coincidence anymore.

For a while Lyra's best friend was our kitten, Ollie (until he passed away) and she loved having play time with him. Mainly this involved Ollie attacking her furry tail.

Post a link in the comments to your post about your dog. I love reading everyone's doggy tales!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

So guys, I have been thinking about joining up for a while ever since Gabrielle Bisset did a post about it on her blog. I think it will be great motivation for me to really plough on with my story. A Round of Words begins on April 4 and ends on June 23 (which is ironically my 5 year anniversary). There are regular check-ins which you make so everyone knows how you're progressing on your story and so that you can support one another.

My goal: I am currently working on the first book in the KAT LYRILLE series and have completed 12,000 words. I aim to reach 60,000 words in 80 days and plan on writing at least 600 words a day.

Depending on how consistent I am about this I may increase or decrease my end goal. I would love to have a complete first draft after 80 days but I'm not sure if I'd be able to do it.

About Komal

Komal Kant is the author of IMPOSSIBLE, FALLING FOR HADIE, and the upcoming WRONG SIDE OF TOWN.
Komal is overly enthusiastic about video games, comic books, Byronic heroes, baking, reptiles and pretty shoes.